Metro-North

FRA diving deeper into Metro-North

The Federal Railroad Administration will launch a 60-day comprehensive safety assessment of MTA Metro-North Railroad in response to the December 1st crash that killed four and injured 63. Operation Deep Dive, beginning Dec. 16, 2013, “will exhaustively review Metro-North’s compliance with federal regulations, its procedures and practices, and its safety culture,” FRA said.
Commentary

Are two-person crews less safe than a single engineer?

News item: The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) ordered MTA Metro-North Railroad to have two qualified crewmembers in the lead cab until Metro-North’s signal system is updated to ensure automatic train control (ATC) slows trains automatically if the engineer fails to adhere to a speed reduction requirement greater than 20 mph below maximum allowable speed.
Commentary

Emergency Order 29: Where’s the consistency?

When we investigate accidents and injuries, when we analyze failures of any sort on any railroad, we are searching for a root cause—that determining factor, or factors, that drive the accident from a potential condition to a manifest event.

FRA issues emergency order to Metro-North

In the wake of the Dec. 1, 2013 wreck of an MTA Metro-North Railroad train that was apparently caused by an overspeed condition and that resulted in four deaths and 63 injuries, the Federal Railroad Administration on Friday, Dec. 6 issued an Emergency Order (EO 29) to Metro-North “to take specific, immediate steps to ensure its train crews do not exceed speed limitations.”
Commentary

Spuyten Duyvil: Why? A safety expert weighs in

Pearl Harbor. Dallas. 9-11. Lac Mégantic. Now we have “Spuyten Duyvil” to add to the collection of names that, before they became linked to tragedy and loss of life, were simply locations, or dates. You’ve probably read many of the press reports (including what Railway Age has covered) and seen the videos 

on Metro-North’s horrific Dec. 1 wreck. The accident, which now appears to be caused by human error, has turned into a media circus involving politicians and rail union reps, the latter now censured by the National Transportation Safety Board for compromising “confidentiality of investigative information” and being removed from participation in the investigation.

Metro-North wreck kills four, injures 63

Four people were killed and 63 were injured, 11 critically, when a seven-car Metro-North train derailed on a curve and rolled over at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1. The train, which had originated in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., at 5:54 a.m., was headed southbound toward Grand Central Terminal. It was a diesel-powered push-pull consist operating in push mode, as is standard practice on southbound Metro-North diesel trains. It appears now that human error, rather than mechanical or electrical failure, caused the accident.
Commentary
  • News

MTA labor talks: Cannon to left, cannon to right

Hard times motivate T-bone steak lovers to chow down on Spam or Sloppy Joes, but unionized workers employed by MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), MTA Metro-North Railroad, MTA Staten Island Railway (SIR), and New York’s subways, MTA New York City Transit (NYCT)—all operated and largely funded by the cash-strapped State of New York, under the umbrella of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)—are resolved to resist a change in diet.
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